Set over the course of a single day – Tuesday, December 15, 2009 – during COP15, the United Nations climate negotiations at Copenhagen, The Bella tells the story of a crew of filmmakers in attendance at one of the most controversial global meetings in modern history, attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. This day was the last day before the Bella Center, the site of the negotiations, was placed on secure lockdown for visiting dignitaries and heads of state, and the day that protests across the city began to escalate into widespread violence. Inside the Bella Center, conditions were rapidly deteriorating from the high hopes and expectations of the previous days, as delegations fell into disarray, negotiations stalled, and attempts to form a treaty were thrown into limbo.
As the crew struggles to salvage what remains of their film, their efforts prove unexpectedly pivotal, as sensitive information obtained in the course of their work jeopardizes both a fledgling romance one of the filmmakers forms with a negotiator, and ultimately the outcome of the talks themselves. Set entirely within the Bella Center, and deftly intertwining personal narratives of the characters with political narratives of international relations and diplomacy, The Bella chronicles a day in recent history whose story has never been fully told. At turns surreal, comic, and moving, The Bella is at once the story of a day in time, a building in space, a man in love, and a movement that nearly changed the world.
The Bella is available as an electronic book for the Kindle reader and Kindle reading applications at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and the French, German, Italian, and Spanish Amazon sites.
